Court Won't Hear Challenge To Clean Air Act Rule

The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from businesses and industrial interests involving an Environmental Protection Agency regulation setting emission levels of sulfur dioxide, a colorless gas with the smell of rotting eggs. Sulfur dioxide from power plant smokestacks can be carried long distances by wind and weather and has been linked to various illnesses including asthma.

Several corporations and industrial associations along with several states say that EPA's required emission levels are lower than mandated by law to protect public health. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to overturn the EPA's decision.